Tuesday, October 12, 2010

A complaints framework for the East of England. Discuss...

You're clever people, you know stuff. And so do I. However, I don't know everything, and there is always scope for improvement of anything, so what do you make of this?...
  1. All complaints submitted for action by the Regional Party shall be transmitted to the Regional Secretary for consideration in the first instance. On receipt, the Regional Secretary shall ascertain whether said complaint should be dealt with at Local, Regional or State Party level, seeking clarification where appropriate and ensuring compliance with the English Party Membership Rules.
  2. If the requirements indicated above are met, and the complaint is accepted as being best handled at Regional Party level, the Regional Secretary shall make a report to the next meeting of the Regional Management Committee, with a recommendation for action. Such a meeting may be by e-group if undue delay would otherwise result.
  3. The Regional Management Committee shall decide, based on the report of the Regional Secretary, on whether to proceed with the complaint, to refer it to an investigator or directly to a disciplinary hearing. It shall not be bound by the recommendation of the Regional Secretary.
  4. The Regional Secretary, or in the event of a potential conflict of interest, the Regional Administrator, shall be, in the first instance, responsible for liaison between the Regional Party, the complainant(s) and the respondent(s), which will be handled in writing. This will, normally, be done by e-mail. This clause does not supersede the right of the investigator or disciplinary hearing to seek evidence.
  5. The Regional Secretary shall not act as an investigator or member of a disciplinary hearing panel, and instead shall monitor the process, ensuring that deadlines and procedures as specified by the English Party Membership Rules and by the Regional Management Committee are adhered to.
If you were a complainant, or a respondant for that matter, would this reassure you that the matter was being dealt with according to due process. If not, why not?

1 comment:

Richard Gadsden said...

In relation to 1, there should be an alternative process for when the Secretary is the subject of the complaint.

Otherwise, it looks OK to me.